McCaffery: Kelly knows popularity of draft is a trick play

Sunday, May 11, 2014

The NFL draft is a three-day American obsession that dominates the TV ratings. Don’t take it any more seriously than that — at least, that’s what one participant believes, one whose professional career will be defined by the moment.

“These three days the draft is the biggest spectacle of everything, and why it’s turned into that, I don’t really know,” said Chip Kelly. “By Monday, it all falls back in. I think we have two outstanding offensive linemen that we re-signed. Jason Peters was an undrafted free agent; how that happened, I have no idea. And Jason Kelce is a sixth-round draft pick. Tom Brady is a sixth-round draft pick.

“I’m not blaming anybody, but everybody goes crazy about the draft, and, ‘He’s a first, he’s a second, he’s a third.’ And then on Monday, it doesn’t matter. It’s, ‘Who is the best player?’”

If that was Kelly’s way of tweaking the draftniks who’d questioned the Eagles for committing to Marcus Smith in the first round and not the last, it worked. Kelly is right. Winning games matters. Winning a good draft grade is comical.

“A lot of times, you don’t know,” Kelly said. “Our best player at New Hampshire, we were smart enough to let him walk on. It’s the same thing. You offer scholarships and you’ve got five-star recruits and everybody is like, ‘He’s our guy.’ And the first day at practice, you’re like, ‘Who is that guy? Oh, he’s really good. You did a great job letting him be a walk-on.’ But we didn’t do anything. It’s just like when the undrafted free agent comes out of nowhere. If you did a really good job, you would have drafted him.”

• After 29 years of perfect attendance and articulation, Eagles’ public-address announcer Dan Baker has been fired.

In a statement, the Eagles said that they are planning a new, “true multi-media” experience. Apparently, there is no room in that experience for a true Philadelphia multi-media professional who will accurately report the down, distance, ball-carrier and tackler.

The Flyers’ experience was perfect when it was just Lou Nolan supplying the pertinent hockey information. Then they decided to force roving, shouting salesmen on the customers.

The Sixers’ experience was at its best when Dave Zinkoff did nothing more than mix in a phony announcement about a car with its lights on and the motor running. Now, they introduce a team on a 26-game losing streak with indoor fireworks.

And was there anything more perfect than the soothing, no-gimmick voice of the late John McAdams amid the constant college basketball uproar at the Palestra?

The true experience of a ballgame should occur on the playing surface. The public address announcer should only reflect, not ruin that.

• Nothing from Kelly yet on the Baker firing. Give him a month and he can call it an “announcing decision.”

• • •

If there is anything more uncomfortable than trying to relax on a raft in the middle of a pool, I’ll text you.

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Days after implying that it was not his desire, Paul Holmgren agreed to squeeze upstairs to become the Flyers’ president, allowing Ron Hextall to become the general manager.

In seven seasons, Holmgren’s Flyers reached the playoffs five times. Once, they were in the Stanley Cup Finals. Another, they were in the Final Four. In almost any other franchise in American professional sports history, that would have been worth a contract extension, not a forced promotion. But the Flyers never relent in seeking a championship, even if it means trading a captain, firing a coach after three games or spending to the limit for free agents.

That’s what makes the Flyers eternally popular. They will not settle for just being good, and they will make whatever change is necessary to become better.

At least their new president understands the policy. The new GM, too.

• • •

Any — and that means any — apparel on a dog. … I don’t get it.

• • •

Philadelphia lost an understated sports hero when Herb Lotman died Thursday at the age of 80.

Lotman, who earned millions as a major food supplier to McDonald’s restaurants, helped develop the McDonald’s LPGA Championships, which brought a golf major to the extended area. His generosity also helped Philadelphia keep the Dad Vail Regatta.

“He did it for all of the right reasons, too,” said Jimmy Murray, the former Eagles general manager, who ran the LPGA tourney, all to benefit the Ronald McDonald House charities. “He didn’t do it for attention. He did it to get things done. I was just happy to be his altar boy.”

• • •

Desperate to give their fans anything that could be considered an achievement, the 76ers hosted an appropriately festive yet tasteful press conference to introduce Michael Carter-Williams as the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.

The next day, they announced that the point guard would require surgery to repair a damaged labrum in his shooting shoulder.

The deliberate camouflaging of relevant news at a news conference finished just behind the “Together We Build” marketing slogan, but well ahead of that cockamamie cheering section that embarrasses the franchise and the city.

• High among the reasons for his rookie-year success, Carter-Williams said, was that his closest circle of friends helped him make wise off-court decisions, among them getting to bed early.

As for the Sixers’ last Rookie of the Year — one Allen Iverson in 1996 — he played by a different rule, if memory serves.

• • •

Brendan Shanahan is the new president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Why did they need a new president? This, from the Canadian Press: “Brendan Shanahan was brought in to,” — wait for it, here it comes in three, two, one — “change the culture of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

Once he’s achieved that, he can acquire better players. But first things first.